3 November 2019

Victory by the Springboks at the Rugby World Cup in Japan yester­day was a victory for sports trans­formation – with doomsayers who ini­tially resisted Siya Kolisi’s captaincy be­ing forced to eat humble pie.

This team that lifted the Webb Ellis trophy in the presence of President Cyr­il Ramaphosa is the most transformed Springboks we’ve ever had.

This important victory adds fresh im­petus to efforts to make the sport acces­sible to all. We take our hats off to for­mer sports minister Fikile Mbalula who courageously instructed the various lily white codes, including rugby, to either play black players or face consequences.

Structurally, we remain a deeply di­vided nation, with rugby being one of the most racially divided codes, simply be­cause some in the echelons of the sport strive to keep it lily white. There are no black coaches at national, provincial and regional levels.

It is important not to allow a momen­tary surge of patriotism to lull us into false beliefs. Much work still needs to be done to ensure that in sport, and society, opportunity is availed to many, regard­less of their race.

In the midst of the doom and gloom the country finds itself in economically and politically, the victory made every­one proud to be South African – again. We believe the victory should be used to buttress structural reforms.

In months and years to come, we are likely to see more black youngsters tak­ing up rugby as their number one sport – hoping to emulate Kolisi. We dare not fail them.

For now, we say, hail the Bokke for bringing the trophy home.

Time to shake up our economy

On Friday, global rating agency Moody’s downgraded the coun­try’s credit rating from stable to negative.

This means we are now in the final step before the last of the three major rating agencies strips us of an investment grade.

Standard and Poor’s and Fitch have already downgraded our credit rating to junk status, meaning we are paying more for credit.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni on Wednesday painted a bleak picture of the country’s economic future, highlighting our growing debt, among others, which is projected to get to 71.3% of the GDP in the medium term.

This week, Stats SA reported that the country’s unemployment increased to 29.1%, the highest since 2008.

We are on the cusp of an economic dis­aster that will have devastating effects on all of us, especially the poor and the downtrodden.

If there was any time when we needed leadership, it is now.

It is time for the ANC and President Cyril Ramaphosa to put their differenc­es aside and save our country from this imminent catastrophe. This also goes to the men and women in the trade unions, civil society, business and elsewhere in the country – we need to pull together to extricate ourselves from this morass.

Moody’s has given us the last chance to get our act together.

SUNDAY WORLD